Tag: composition

A few weeks ago, I was thrilled to learn that my latest piece “Internal Combustion” was going to premiere in Nashville with the Nashville Composer Collective. Not only did this mean a performance (something we composers are always looking for), but it was also an excuse to go back to my old stomping ground for a few days.

However, my excitement was soon outweighed by apprehension. Would spending time in Nashville and remembering the life I once had make me regret the whole decision to move to Chicago? Or would Nashville just seem like a boring, quant town after three months of life in the big city?

As the flat, corn-lined highway stretched in front of me for as far as I could see, months of anticipation and preparation shifted into reality. After uprooting myself from my beloved Music City eight months ago, I was now trading my Virginia Appalachians for Chicago skyscrapers.

Two weeks ago, a wave of apprehension came over me as I packed my bags to head to the Composers’ Retreat of the Wintergreen Summer Music Festival. I shouldn’t have been nervous, because I’d had a great experience when I participated in the same program three years ago. But this time, I felt like everything was at stake. Continue reading “What Happened When I Spent 2 Weeks at a Composers’ Retreat…”→

Seven months ago, the hardest and best chapter of my life so far came to a close: I graduated from Belmont University with a BM in Composition and a BS in Audio Engineering Technology. Even now, it’s still hard to believe it’s done!

I must confess I felt equal amounts of relief and panic the day I walked across the stage: relief, because four and-a-half years of blood, sweat, and tears were finished; and panic, because I realized I had two degrees but no firm plan for what would follow.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve found myself traveling all over the place to study at a couple of summer music festivals. I was at the Fresh Inc Festival in Wisconsin for two weeks in June, and it was so good that I haven’t been able to figure out how to sum up the experience in one post. Hopefully I’ll do that soon, though. At the moment, I’ve just finished my first week at the Atlantic Music Festival in Maine, and it’s been amazing.

When I say “music festival” to some people, they imagine that I’m talking about loud rock bands and lots of drugs and wild partying, but these classical festivals I attend could hardly be farther from that. In my world, the music festivals I speak of are the places you go as a young composer to sharpen your skills, make connections, and study music intensely without the burden of homework and day-to-day chores that I have during the school year.

With my senior year behind me, I can say it’s been a pretty unbelievable couple of semesters, for so many reasons. So much has happened since I posted in August that I figured it was time for an update…

This year, I had nine performances of several of my pieces. One of the highlights was having the Belmont Orchestra perform Out of Ashes twice this spring: once at the annual Classical Performers Concert, as the winner of the Composition Competition, and once at the Tennessee Music Education Association Conference. I’ve learned so much from my peers over the last four years, so it was wonderful to hear them play my work—not to mention that they gave it such incredible performances!

The Belmont Symphony Orchestra performing my composition, Out of Ashes, in March 2017

Since I last posted on here, so much has happened that I can’t possibly put it one post, so I’ll just keep it short.

To start out, my first serious orchestral piece, “Out of Ashes” had a fantastic premiere by the Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra in May. Huge thanks to all of the musicians for their hard work in making it a success! There are no words to describe that night, so I’m just going to post the recording here for you:

Since I last wrote, I’ve received some big news: I won the Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra’s Composition Competition with my new work, “Out of Ashes.” The premiere is one week from today, and to say I’m thrilled and excited and honored doesn’t even begin to express how I feel about this!

The premiere will take place at 7:30 PM on May 3rd, at Brentwood United Methodist Church in Brentwood, TN. Also, there will be a second performance on May 10th at 7:30 PM at the Gordon Jewish Community Center. All of you are invited, and admission is free.